Sean Green - a Met who wrote a book on Zen
Ike Davis - traded (damn it) to Pittsburgh
As an aging Met fan and a somewhat observant Jew
I take pride in
their accomplishments
Played a little while in the LL
A catcher!
I have also attended Mets games
at the old Shea Stadium
Where we held up signs saying
"Joan Payson is a prostitute"
I now see how the troubled days of my youth started
But even on the worst days I still had my copy of
Frank Waldman's "Bonus Pitcher"
and was able to hear the announcer say
"Put it in the books"!

The green field
spread out
in front of us
The smell of beer, pretzels, hot dogs
The cheers from the crowd
memories flood through me
on this desolate winter day
Slush on the ground
Cars whizzing by
I sit here on New York's
fabled Lower East Side
and remember good times
at the ballpark
Mays, Shamsky, Kranepool and above all Stengel
Names which light up the sky
for thousands of fans
in this metropolis - Baghdad on the Hudson
my home - NYC

What does it take to step up to the plate?
Every time there is a mistake
Life seems unfair at times and you get out
Other times "HOMERUN" is just shy of foul
Family and friends are your team
Communtication and practice prevent your defeat
Without it you make mistakes and get tagged out
or cause an ERA and begin to doubt
So when it happens that final day
when its bases loaded, two outs and your up to the plate
3 balls 2 strikes and your down by 3
You decide how its going to be
Sure, in the end it doesn't matter who wins or loses
The decisions in life always leaves its bruises